A grueling 75-mile relay race through the rolling countryside of deep Southern Illinois won't make many people's top 10 list of fun things to do on the weekend.
It did, however, for a number of area runners who participated in the 21st annual River-to-River Relay on April 19, a brutal road race that brings many competitors to the brink of exhaustion.
Among the 240 teams that competed in nine divisions -- open, women, mixed, masters, women masters, mixed masters, handicap, corporate (open) and corporate handicap -- were 19 from the metro-east.
Three of those entries were from Belleville. A group of city firefighters, Belleville Fire Department Roadrunner Local No. 53, competed in the open division while the Belleville Running Club fielded two eight-person teams.
"It's weird," said Dan Trapp, a member of the Belleville Running Club. "It's a race that a lot of people have never heard of, but the metro-east is always well represented in the race."
Belleville Running Club finished 17th out of 86 teams in the open division with a time of 9 hours, 18 minutes, 23 seconds. However, the team finished second out of 11 running clubs that entered the running club division, missing first place by a second.
Belleville Running Club No. 2 took 13th in the mixed division with a time of 9:46:22 and was sixth in the running club division, which is restricted to teams consisting of members of the same running club (no ringers allowed).
"We were very pleased," said Trapp, who ran for Belleville Running Club No. 2. "It's a lot of fun. Running is generally an individual sport so this is a fun time to be on a team. Since we've run it a couple of times before, everybody knows how much fun it is and we had a lot of people that wanted to do it this year."
Members of Belleville Running Club were: Doug Havlin, Jacob Bockhorn, Casey Nesbit, David Estrada, Stephanie Adams, Toby Trapp, Greg Jackson, Doug Cotton and Sara Fite (alternate).
Running for Belleville Running Club No. 2 were: Dan Trapp, Jules Grandy, Keenan Peel, Molly Mernick, Ryan Rhodes, Chris Anderson, Alan Elfrink, Matt Albertson and Jen Peel (alternate).
The race --which starts on a bluff overlooking the Mississippi River valley in LaRue Pine Hills -- follows country roads through the Shawnee National Forest to its finish at the Ohio River in Golconda.
The race attracts over 2,000 runners from across North America and is unique in that it's basically a team sport for runners, who often run in solitude.
Each of the eight runners completes three sections that range in length from 2.5 miles to 4 miles, starting at 6:15 a.m. The finish line closes exactly at 8 p.m. Each runner runs about 10 miles over a scenic but tough 75-mile course that includes many hills.
The first part of the course, which encompassed about three miles, had to be eliminated this year because of a landslide.
"The hills on this course are just ridiculous," Trapp said. "We spent some time trying to find the hilliest routes possible. We spent some time at The Shrine (of Our Lady of the Snows). Some people during the winter were cranking up the incline on the treadmill.
"Anything we could to prepare ourselves for the hills. Knowing what to expect helped a lot."
All the training and experience must have helped. Three years ago, the Belleville Running Club team didn't finish with the race in the allotted 12 hours. Last year, it finished in 10:44.26.
"We ran out of time and got kicked off the course the first year," Trapp sad. "Last year we improved upon that and this year we improved even more."
For the first time in several years, weather was not a hindrance in the race. Temperatures were in the mid-50 degree range with an intermittent drizzle.
"It was almost ideal," Trapp said. "Last year was really warm and the year before that was really warm, too. This year, it was a little bit cooler and it was perfect. It's welcomed for running, it really is."
Other local teams were: 80, Area You Crazy (Highland), AIR Mobility Flying Feet (Scott Air Force Base), AYOW (Nashville), Chester Running Club (Chester), Easy to Pass and Tough to Lap (Chester), Gooch (Collinsville), Great Adventures Racing Team (Scott Air Force Base), Metro Milers (Edwardsville), Molar Marauders (Alton), Relay Renegades (New Athens), Rolling Stones (Mascoutah), Running Scared (Sparta), Running Start (Shiloh), Team Godzilla (Edwardsville), Team Godzilla HC (Edwardsville) and Under Par (Greenville).
Contact reporter Rod Kloeckner at rkloeckner@bnd.com or 239-2663.
